What was "The Genius" thinking?

Yes, of course, I realize that Tuesday night's All-Star affair out there in San Francisco was an exhibition game and I fully understand that the fate of the world was not on the line . . . although home-field advantage in the World Series was (foolish as that may have been).

But as long as all those people did congregate near the Bay, it would have seemed to make sense for everybody to actually try to win the game. Which inspires the question: What was up with Tony LaRussa, the manager of the National League side who didn't play the man who is, arguably, as dangerous a hitter as can be found in baseball today?

Associated Press/Jeff ChiuPerplexing, it was, that Albert Pujols was not summoned to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday night. But then, Tony LaRussa knows all.

Uh huh. Albert Pujols, LaRussa's own guy from the St. Louis Cardinals, didn't get so much as a sniff . . . not a swing. Not even with two outs in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded in the affair the NL was losing by a single run.

LaRussa, who would over-think the peeling of an orange, defended his indefensible decision by claiming he was saving Pujols -- the only positional player among the National Leaguers who'd yet to see action -- for that time in the contest when his outfit would really need him. You know, like in extra innings in the event of an injury to a lesser talent.

So, LaRussa, baseball's resident genius, sent Philadelphia's Aaron Rowand, who'd previously struck out, to the plate while Pujols -- who has finished second ('06), first ('05), third ('04), second ('03), second ('02) and fourth ('01) in the last six league MVP tallies -- seethed on the bench. And, fairly predictably, the NL proceeded to lose, 5-4, when Rowand meekly flew out to right field.

"I think," said LaRussa, who'll admit to making a mistake only in alternating decades, "we had the right guy at bat."

Oh yeah? At the risk of heresy, can we have a show of hands among baseball followers across the land who think that Aaron Rowand is a better hitter than Albert Pujols? I would bet a sensitive body part or two that not even Aaron Rowand's mother would belly up to that bar.

The final tally, then, is this: Tony LaRussa helps the National League fall to 10-0-1 in the last 11 All-Star Games and he seriously ticks off his best player just as the Cardinals are about to begin action in the second half of the regular season.

It was once said (and this was back in a time of Tribe futility) that a three-time loser was a guy driving to Cleveland in an Edsel to manage the Indians. LaRussa, the baseball sage who was twice a loser on Tuesday, could kind of identify.